Rolling Thunder
by azndreamwriter
Summary: The rebels are getting better and better equiped. Fighting harder and harder. Winning more and more. What lies at the heart of their operations, masterminding this uprising? Halo Universe/Code Lyoko Characters
1. Chapter 1

* * *

{AFTER HUMAN-COVENANT WAR}

Ice vapor drifted past in space, making a slight haze over the crags of a small astroid designated astroid 84361-890. It was a small, unremarkable piece of floating debris, jumbled up billions of larger and smaller astroids in the massive Shayuum-Elecifer system's astroid belt. This area was of had no affiliation to either the humans nor the Elites, and was desolately lifeless, inhabited only by micro-organisms on the wasteland planet Alphos.

Nothing was supposed to be living out here. Nothing. Neither race bothered to patrol the area.

No one cared about 84361-890. But on a close examination, it would be revealed that astroid 84361-89 emitted gamma radiation and EMP waves at the sametime everyday. A more detailed examination would reveal that objects seemed to materialize from the astroid, then fade away a few seconds later. An even closer examination would reveal taht the astroid seemed to have a large metal mass inside of it.

But no one cared.

* * *

-1 MATCH FOR SEARCH QUERY *PATH OF LIGHT; SCOUT*-

[Kig-yar scout ship; _Path of Light_]

[ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS MISSION LOGS]

[]

[]

[]

[ERROR]

[RESTRICTED CLASS 4]

-OVERRIDE 213.434-

[OVERRIDE VALIDATED]

[RESCAN? Y/N]

-Y-

[SCANNING]

[ERROR]

[MISSION LOGS CORRUPTED]

[RECONSTRUCT? Y/N]

-Y-

[CONFIRMED]

[RECONSTRUCTING]

[]

[]

[ERROR]

[SECURITY THREAT DETECTED]

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

[SYSTEM OVERLOAD]

[PRIMARY SYSTEM MALFUNCTION]

[ERROR]

[SYSTEM SHUTDOWN]

[/////////.............]

[;';.////////////////]

[ERR.../////////////..........

[SHUTDO'/.........//]

[///////////THREAT./..//////////]

[SYSTE////////////////////..............]

[SYS//////OAD//////////MALFUN///////////C.21.4FD.6]

[/////////SHUT//WN IMM//NENT]

[D//A C/R/S P/RG/D///////]

[OVER///// OVERLOA/D]

[//////////...........//////]

[ERR...////]

[ERROR]

...

...

...

...

[SYSTEM REBOOT]

[SCANNING SYSTEM INTEGRITY]

[THREAT DETECTED]

[QUARANTINE? Y/N]

-Y-

[SYSTEM 100 PERCENT FUNCTIONING]

[PLEASE ENTER ACCESS CODES]

-567.2314.856-

[VALIDATING CODE]

[VALIDATED]

-OPEN SEARCH-

-SEARCH KEYWORD *PATH OF LIGHT; SCOUT*-

[AREA OF SEARCH?]

-INTERNAL MEMORY-

[SEARCHING]

[]

[]

[]

[1 MATCH FOUND]

[KIG-YAR SCOUT SHIP; PATH OF LIGHT]

-ACTIVATE SECURITY AI-

[AI ACTIVATED]

-ACCESS MISSION LOG-

[ACCESSING]

{SECURITY THREAT DETECTED. AI NEUTRALIZING THREAT}

{QUARANTINE FAILED}

{VIRUS ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS SYSTEM}

{ERROR}

{BLOCKING VIRUS}

{VIRUS EMBEDDED INTO DATA; QUICKLY LOOK FOR WHAT YOU NEED}

[MISSION LOG ACCESSED]

[NOTE: MISSION LOGS PARTIALLY ERASED. EVIDENCE OF FILE ALTERATION DETECTED]

-DISPLAY MISSION LOGS-

=KIG- YAR SCOUT SHIP, PATH OF LIGHT=

=SHIPMASTER : ZHAR CHUR'R=

=COM ID: 367.2435.964

=MISSION HISTORY=

=HUMAN PLANET 36487.967=

=HUMAN PLANET 36489.893=

=HUMAN PLANET 36481.153=

=ELITE COLONY WORLD EXALTED PATH=

=LAST UPDATED LOCATION=

=IN SLIPSPACE EN ROUTE TO SHAYUUM-ELECIFER SYSTEM=

-CHECK LAST UPDATED DATE-

[APPROXIMATELY 720 CYCLES AGO]

-INITIATE COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY-

[COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY INITIATED]

[INPUT ID]

-567.2314.856-

[ID VALIDATED]

[INPUT RECIEVER ID]

-367.2435.964-

[TRANSMITTING]

[]

[]

[]

[ERROR]

[NO ACCESS POINT FOR ID 367.2435.964 DETECTED]

{RELEASING DATA}

{ERROR}

{DATA HAS BEEN PARTIALLY RELEASED. VIRUS AUTO-DOWNLOADED, EMBEDED INTO MY CENTRAL CORE. INITIALIZING SELF-DESTRUCT PROTOCAL}

* * *

The Elite sat back, looking over the information he could find about the ship _Path of Light_.

All his effort in the last year had lead him to the ship. All his hard work turned up this. And this database, one that cost so many lives to obtain that he hated to think about it, had virtually no information on it.

He had suspected someone on the inside didn't want anyone to know about this ship, and the corrupted data combined with the virus hidden within the data only validated his suspicions. The virus was a cunningly made one as well. As the computer accessing the files reconstructed the corrupted data, it was literally making it's own doom. The virus was a series of code inside the program, and would be completely inert and harmless in a corrupted form, passing initial anti-virus scans. If one had looked at the code in it's corrupted form, reconstructed with pen and paper, one would discover that the virus was actually essential to run the code, and therefore could not be written out of the code. Only with an extremely advanced anti-virus software and a security AI did the computer escape from the sure doom of meltdown. And even then, the AI was destroyed in the process, and the computer rendered useless until a maintaince officer came and completely reset the system, and replaced the central core.

The Elite emerged from his train of thought, and glanced back at the holo-screen. At least he had one clue to go off of. The last known location of the Path of Light. The Shayuum-Elecifer system.

* * *

Ulrich dived sideways, tucking in his legs for a roll to his side. He cleared the barrel of his sidearm, and fired. The remaining rebels fired back, chipping away at the rubble that Ulrich was sheltering behind. The market square he was passing through had erupted into a firefight.

Ulrich holstered his sidearm, and pulled out his rifle, a caseless SMG with a surpressor, an underslung MasterLock system(underslung shotgun basically) and a field- rifle scope. And in his pack, he had an underslung grenade launcher system. He popped up, and fired twin bursts of bullets into the opposition. The full-metal jacket rounds made short work of outdated rebel ballistic armor, punching straight through as if the armor was rice paper.

The opposition returned fire, and was bolstered by the sight of arriving reinforcements for them. 2 armored trucks filled with rebels, ready to fight and die. A rebel sniper set up in a building on the far side of the square.

Ulrich huddled closely to the pile of rubble, and keyed into his COMlink.

"Hornet team Bravo-4. This is Red-1, I need some anti-armor here. Some suppression fire would be welcome too."

"Roger, Red-1. Bravo-4 moving in."

"Bravo-4, target these points." Ulrich said, highlighting the two trucks and the sniper with NAV points.

"Affirmative Red-1. On our way. ETA 2 minutes to your location. Bravo-4 out."

Ulrich tried to raise a link to the rest of his team, but all he got was static. So instead, he flicked the acknowledgement light in his helmet to red, and broadcast it to the rest of his team. Hopefully they would receive the signal. His pod was knocked from it's course by an AA round that went off in close proximity from Ulrich's pod. It was only by sheer luck that Ulrich survived.

Ulrich ran his hand over his gear, and selected a smoke grenade and a flashbang from his inventory. Ulrich pulled the pin on the smoke grenade, and dropped it at his feet. He pulled the pin of the flashbang when he dropped the smoke grenade, cooked the flashbang, and tossed in in front of the rubble pile he was sheltering behind.

He knew that if he smoked and tried to run, he'd be gunned down. So, he smoked out, getting the attention of all the rebels, who were expecting him to rush out, then tossed a flashbang up and over, blinding the rebels, leaving him a free escape.

Ulrich sprinted away from the rebels, to a long ridge of rubble that ran from oneside of the square to the other. Ulrich distinctly recalled that he had vaulted over this very ridge to access the square not 5 minutes ago.

He leapt over the ridge, and crouched down. Readying his SMG, he stood and took out the rebels he could see with precise bursts of fire.

Ulrich checked his mission timer. Only 30 secs had passed since he called in air support.

The rebels in the trucks finally disembarked, and assembled into loose fireteams of 10. Peeking over the rubble, he saw that a one team was setting up mortars and anti-vehicle weapons. Ulrich cursed under his breath. Those heavy weapons would bring down Bravo-4 with relative ease.

Ulrich sprayed down the oppostion, trying to pin them down long enough for him to eliminate the heavy weapons. Ulrich changed the clip, and replaced the MasterLock system with the underslung grenade launcer.

Ulrich stood again, and pulled the trigger for the underslung. There was a slight bang, followed by a foom! sound. The grenade shot out of the barrel, headed straight for the heavy weapons team.

The grenade had barely cleared the barrel when Ulrich turned and fired on the closest fire team, peppering them with SMG rounds.

Ulrich then realized, a cold hard feeling pooling in his guts, that he had made an elementary mistake. His flank was left open for another rebel fireteam to freely shoot and try to kill Ulrich. Ulrich realized in the same flash that this was because he was used to his team covering for him. As he realized this fatal mistake, the combined fire of the rebel team slammed into his right side, searing straight through his armor and cleanly exiting out the other side.

Ulrich spun, knocked off balance, his HUD bloodstained, cracked, and blitzed with fuzz. HIs vision swam in and out of focus, blackness pooling at the edge of his sight, and dark blue spots appearing in his central field of view. Ulrich felt himself falling, almost in slow motion.

He fell onto his back, facing up. His head bounced up an inch once, and he was still. A strange hissing noise filled his ears.

The last thing he saw, before the blackness closed around him, was the beautiful blue sky streaked with dark, crimson blood.

* * *

-Human Frigate-class ship; _Resolute; Special status: Prowler refit_**-**

Odd sat down on the locker bench, and mopped up his sweaty face with a towel. Odd had just completed an intense 4-hour workout, need to keep a Spartan in shape.

Odd got up, and put on the unarmored suit the Marines wore when off duty. It had been upgraded since the first Halo ring, and had a thin layer of nano crystals in the chest area designed to disperse plasma shots and provide minimal protection against low-caliber weapons. The brass had decided for these upgrades since sometimes, there just wasn't time to strap on the full armor, and something was better than nothing. An added bonus was that this upgrade was cheap, and easy to apply across the entire armed forces, including Navy. Odd had gotten one, and but he decided it wasn't enough. He took it upon himself, and added 2 more layers of reactive diamonite nanocrystal, to the front back, and thighs of his suit. The diamonite was charged by a battery that was in the padded back of the suit. (Odd had also replaced the foam inside the pads with silk-weave first grade Kevlar).

Diamonite, when a current is run through, will flex in a certain way to the prescince of magnetic currents. The shtronger the current, the more protection the crystal provides. This means, when a bullet hits the crystal, the bullet, just touching the crystal, will alter the current and the cyrstals would instantously flex to deflect the projectile. Another thing was, Diamonite is extremely effective against plasma weapons, as weapons that used plasma as a projectile uses magnetic currents to shape the charge. The diamonite would flex, and discharge a slight electrical charge that would weaken the plasma's cohesion, and it's oblique surfaces would disperse the plasma away. In tests on diamonite armor agaist plasma, the armor survived unscathed from long-meduim range shots, and successfully dispersed plasma rifle/pistol shots 60 percent of the time. The downside, the armor would usually magnitze in place after a few shots, rendering it useless.

Odd exited the locker rooms and returned to the secondary armory, that was converted for Odd's use as a barrack. In there was his armor, and it's repair kit, his modified weapons, and an assortment of other equipment that Odd had packed for this journey.

FLEETCOM had just an hour ago had patched through to the _Resolute_ a new mission for Odd. Odd was to infiltrate a rebel facility, dug deep underground, that was the headquarters of the main resistance above ground. Battleships in orbit could not destroy it, for a) they did not know the exact location of it, and b) it would by most likely be too deep to blast away from orbit.

Odd's job was to find the base, infiltrate it, gather as much intel as he could, including troop size, troop movements, leader identites, etc. and place a beacon inside of the base to mark for groundside UNSC troops. And he was to do this without getting caught, or the rebels suspecting he was there.

Afterwards, he would help spearhead the attack into the base, and use his knowledge of the base to destroy key points before the rebels could rally together a defense.

_Easy enough_ Odd muttered sarcastically under his breath.

A voice cracked over the COM. "Spartan D-027, report to the bridge immiediately.

* * *

"Sir, reporting as requested." Odd saluted.

"At ease, soldier." replied Commander Zhao.

"I have been made aware of your new mission. FLEETCOM wants you dirtside ASAP. Your resources are limited to this ship right now. We believe there is an Insurrectionist sympathizer that is leaking info to the groundside rebels."

"Yessir. I am taking a HEV to planetside. What are my evac options?"

"You will not be evacuated. FLEETCOM has decided that you must stay amongst the rebels, just as a backup in case the Insurrection manages to rally together faster than we can push into the installation."

"Yessir." Odd snapped right and left the deck.

* * *

_A hour later..._

Super heated air whipped past the pod, clawing at it's ceramic surface. Inside, Odd was jostled around as the HEV hit rough air pockets in the outer edge of the atmostphere. There was a small screen in front of Odd's faceplate, displaying data from the pod's sensors. A little circular temperature indicator sarted turning from yellow to red. Another showed the altitude, a blur of numbers going straight for zero. Odd tapped a few buttons, programing for a reverse thrust 20 seconds earlier than normal, to account for the weight of his armor. A ETA timer flashed green. 45 seconds to impact.

Odd began his usual equipment check. Green across the board. His eyes flashed across to the altimeter. 7000 feet.

He uslung a SMG and charged the firing lever. A small camera started relaying the view below him. A dense green jungle streched out below him. Odd spotted a splotch of gray about 5 miles east of the LZ. A snag. There wasn't supposed to be any rebels within 25 miles.

The altimeter flashed red. 1000 feet. His ETA started flashing a second later. 15.

Odd braced himself on the lower blast plate and assumed a landing position. The chute balloned out, jerking the pod back. A small thruster engaged, further slowing down the HEV. The altimeter flashed and stopped at 60.

The walls of the HEV blew outwards, flapping back into the wind. The cage was next to go. All that was left was the blast plate, which fell away.

Odd landed in a crouch, SMG out. A perfect HEV deployment and landing.

A/N: A HEV is actually supposed to do this, not actually landing on the ground, contrary to the HALO video games. An HEV is supposed to eject it's rider at 20 feet and the soldier lands like that. Or, at least i think it suupoosed to be like this. If it isn't I still like my version better :)

Odd rechecked his equipment. Good to go. His HUD wasn't picking up anyone in his immidiate vinicity. Odd set off for the pod. If there was rebel activity just 2 miles away, camoflauging the pod would be a crucial step in avoiding detection. Plus, there was a transponder aboard the crash cage, on a encoded UNSC COM bandwith, designed especially for this mission to allow the Prowler to deliver Odd more supplies. _Speaking of which, my first supply drop should be arriving just about now..._ Odd thought to himself. Sure enough, there was a small black streak in the air, norht of his current position. A NAV beacon flashed on for a breif moment, then died out. His suit's HUD automatically marked the loaction in the pre-downloaded topographical map Odd had gotten installed into his suit right before he left.

Odd opened up his suit's COMlink, and set it to scan for any Insurrectionist chatter. The scanner homed in on the C - band. Static crackled in Odd's ear,as the suit broke through the channels encryptions, then resolved to clear tones.

_"Sir, patrol team 1 spotted something to our west, something like an astroid."_

_"An astroid? How many?"_

_"Just two. The second one was smaller, and landed what looked like close the first one."_

_"No. That would be a UNSC HEV. Followed by a supply drop. I think they dropped a UAV unit here. No way they would've dropped just one soldier. Keep on high alert. Send out scout teams. Destroy it before it can relay any information about this outpost back the UNSC. They don't yet know that this is here, and I want to keep it that way."_

_"Yes sir."_

Odd swore. The rebels were tipped off that there was UNSC activity around. Even though they guessed incorrectly, they still were getting into high alert, which would make his mission all that much harder.

The COMlink crackled to life again.

_"Sir, we have a fix on the LZ of the HEV. We are mustering the search parties to loacte it and destroy it."_

_"Good. Keep me informed on what is happening."_

_"Yessir."_

Odd swore again. Now he would have to race to claim the drop pod and the supply drop as well. He started off at a brisk jog, guided by the suit's TTMU.

* * *

Theo loved flying. He loved it so much he joined the UNSC Naval Acedamy. 5 years later, he had flown multiple different crafts, excelling in combat operations in each one. He had flown Longswords primarily, and had served in the space battles of Reach, Sigma Octanus IV, as well as the space battle over Earth, and was famed for outflying his combat instructor the first time he was allowed to fly.

Now, he was diverted to the rebel front, to Hornet divisions. He was assigned to a Gunship-class Hornet. The mecs back at the hangar had removed the extra ammo drums strapped to the sides of the Hornet, and replaced them with a single harness on each side. There was a shortage of Hornets, and the field ops HQ had to make do with what it had. Plus, HQ thought it would be a good idea if there was a heavier armed, heavier armored Hornet on hand to provide support.

He cruised high above the city, then dived steeply.

_"Sniper team, prepare for landing!" _His copilot's voice crackled over the COM to the pair of Spec Ops soldiers strapped the the Hornet. Theo clicked the safeties off of the minigun, which was loaded with incineidary rounds, slung underneath the cockpit. His copilot had the autocannon controls, while the missile pods were still under Theo's control.

Theo's Hornet streaked between the buildings, heading for the sniper's LZ, a point near a heavily contested front that would allow the snipers to provide firing support to the UNSC forces already there.

_"Marines, we're coming in hot. We're gonna drop fast, and bug out." _Theo voiced in over the COMlink. A series of affirmitives followed. The Hornet cleared the last few buildings, into a large square with a vast forest park in the center. the park was about 5-6 acres in size.

_"Yo, AA guns! Watch out!"_

Theo banked sharply, just as a round detonated where he would've been if he hadn't changed course. Theo centered the minigun approximately where the round had came from. Hundreds of rounds thundered down barrel, obliterating the trees. The rounds set the area ablaze.

Theo continued forward, streaking forth at breakneck speeds. His autopilot activated the autocannon, and was engaging entrenched positions and enemy armor. The Hornet flew up, and dived behind a building. _"Sniper team, Go go go!" _voiced his copilot, giving the sniper team a go-ahead.

As soon as the snipers cleared the Hornet, Theo fired the vertical fans, sending the craft in a directly vertical takeoff.

Theo clicked on his COM. _"HQ, this is Theta- One, we have delivered the team. We are en-route to the support position."_

_"Negative Theta-One. Some of our boys need extraction ASAP. Some ODSTs got trapped deep in, and they need to be pulled out fast. Our Pelicans are too far away, and our other Hornet squadrons are engaged."_

_"Affirmative. What are our support options?"_

_"We're scrambling some Shortswords to help provide close-air support, ETA 30 min."_

_"Roger that. Theta-One out"_

Theo pulled the craft away from the firefights breaking out below. Theo called up the locations of the troopers sent to him, and overlayed their positions into his NAV unit. Theo spooled up the minigun, preparing for an ambush. The missile lock software was constantly scanning for targets, while his copilot was prepping the autocannon to fire.

The Hornet sped towards its destination. As he flew on, he encountered more and more resistance. Most obstructions were taken out quickly and effiecently, with Theo maximizing the abilities of the craft's agiliness to dodge incoming fire.

10 minutes in, Theo finally reached the first stranded ODST. The ODST had dug himself in, using his HEV as a shield. He was packing a LMG 279, keeping the rebels at bay with bursts of fire from the machine gun.

Theo opened up with the minigun, blasting apart a building where rebels were trying to get height on the UNSC soldier. The ODST popped smokescreen, and ran towards the Hornet. Theo and his copilot worked together to keep the rebels back.

_"Alright, lets go! He's strapped in." _his copilot yelled.

Theo throttled the elevation thrusters, taking the craft up a few hundred feet. Rifle shots came from below a futile attempt to take down the Hornet. Theo sent the ship zooming forward, towards the next soldier.

_"Woah, the radar's off the charts! I'm reading heavy signals all around us! Their radar profiles match Dreadnaughts! We've got dreadnaughts!" _

Theo swore. _"Whats the count?"_

_"We're getting, 5, 6, 7! We have 7 Dreadnaughts! Wait, make that 10!"_

_"Where the hell did they get 10 Dreadnaughts?"_

_"I don't know, but the techs replaced our railgun with the autocannon, during the refit. And they also took the Marine Gunner gauss cannon too!"_

_"Shit... Missile pods are almost depleted. And we only have incinedary rounds. No depleted uraniaum slugs. Whats the status for our autocannon?"_

_"It's charging. Right now its on a cooldown cycle. 5 minutes until their online again."_

Theo slapped the dashboard, then signaled back to HQ. _"Theta-One to HQ, we've encountered heavy rebel armor. We're counting 10 Dreadnaughts. I repeat: ten Dreadnaughts. We don't have the firepower to take them out. Where's our fire support??"_

_"HQ to Theta-One, Shortsword support is en-route. ETA 15 minutes. Hold in-"_

_"Theo! Energy spike! We're in range! Shit, Theo! Get this thing going!" _His copilot cut in.

Theo opened full throttle, disengaging the safeties on all weapons. A tone emitted from the panel. Missile lock. Theo clicked the firing trigger. Two Eagle class missiles rocketed out of the wing-mounted pods. They had a lot punch in them, but Theo doubt they would be able to do much damage to a Dreadnaught. It was worth a try. Theo followed up with a stream of rounds from the minigun.

The closest Dreadnaughts swiveled their main turrets towards the Hornets. Theo could almost feel the thrum of the plasma generators charging up the cannons. _Come on, come on, you can do it girl, come on, just get us out of here... _Theo prayed to his bird.

The minigun rounds splashed all over the Dreadnaught, barely causing any real damage. The missiles streaked in, and impacted directly on the Dreadnaught. Theo could see the hole they blew in, but the unmanned Dreadnaught wasn't critically damaged. The hole hadn't even breached through the entire armor plate. The turret continued to track, the intensity of the plasma glow building. Meanwhile, a secondary bank of weapons on the tank powered up. A smaller turret mounted on top of the main gun swiveled and aimed at the Hornet. 2 railguns, one 3 barreled chaingun, in a triangle.

Another tone emitted from the panel. Lock on. Theo's eyes widened, frozen in fear for a few seconds. Precious secounds.

The tone intensified, rocking Theo out of his stupor. He wrenched the joysticks sideways. The Dreadnaughts compensated, and started firing. The railgun shots went wide, but the Dreadnaughts were rapidly recompensating. Suddenly, the bleeping tone solidified. Theo's eyes flashed. The mighty turrets on the closests Dreadnaughts opened fire together, 4 beams of plasma streaming straight towards the Hornet, which would be vaporized if hit. Time seemed to slow for Theo as he reached forward... and slapped the emergency gas shutoff.

Normally this shutoff was used for emergency gas leak or similar event while the Hornet was on the ground. Right when Theo hit the cut off, he pushed the joysticks forward all the way, sending the Hornet downwards. The electronic systems were still on, and every single one of them was screaming an alarm to him.

The beams coalesced above him, the sheer heat slagging the top plates of the craft.

Theo quickly reset the shutoff valve, and frantically worked the craft's flaps to slow the rate of descent. The ground loomed ever larger in his cockpit window...

After 6 months of writing this one section, I am done. It was mostly b/c i kept on forgetting


	2. Chapter 2

Please note that in the earlier chapter I made a mistake. Theo's close fire support are not Shortswords, they are Sparrowhawks. I got them mixed up, and realized that when I was writing this. The Shortsword is a bomber, not support/air superiority fighter.

I also want to clarify that normally, Hornets do not have the weapon systems that I have described Theo's Hornet to have. But, I was trying to capture that the UNSC was still rebuilding its losses after the Human-Convenant War, and that whatever was left over from the war had to be repurposed to fill in the roles of other ships/craft that are in short supply.

Another thing is that the Dreadnaught UV Heavy Tank is the evolution of the Rhino Tank (exclusive to Halo Wars). It has heavier armor, a plasma powerplant, and better plasma magnetic systems.

A final note is that TTMU stands for Tactical Topographical Map Unit.

Oh yeah, the Sparrowhawk is not mine. They are from Halo Wars, and the weaponry I have written them is accurate, minus the missiles. Again, I was trying to portray that the UNSC was short on resources, and Anvil missiles from Pelicans were repurposed for use on the Sparrowhawks.

* * *

{Shayuum-Elecifer System: Orbit over Alpho's Norhtern Pole}

A spot of the black, vaccumless space around Alphos began to shimmer. It glowed briefly, then distorted. The phenomena ceased. The energy spike was so little, the magnetic field from the planet masked it up.

A sleek, shimmering onyx ship slipped through the Slipspace hole, energy signals competely masked. It powered down, invisible on radar, and visually.

The Fleetmaster Var 'Volamee stood on the command dais, with an air of power, hands clasped behind back.

He quickly surveyed his officers, checking to make sure they were working at the pace they should be. Not that he needed to check; these officers were all handpicked by him, each carrying the rank and right to command their own subfleets, each having at least a 15 years of experience, 10 of which were served under Var. They were quick, lethal, and effiecent in battle, and were all extremely loyal to their Fleetmaster. They all even had come from the same keep.

He felt a swell of pride, but quickly squelched it. Pride lead to confidence, confidence lead to recklessness. _Rationality and reason are the best weapons you have_. The words of a long dead elder echoed in his head.

With just a few nods and hand signals, Var was able to command his whole entire command center.

"Var, this planet is empty. Our rudimentary scan probes have just returned. Nothing is on that planet. No sign of any significant life forms. There also isn't even the slightest hint that there was a ship here."

"What does our database say about this planet?"

"No one has bothered documenting this planet beyond its location in this system."

"Run the usual planetary documentation scans, then upload it to my command system. But do not sync that data with universal database. Keep the data on this ship only."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Odd was running full speed now, leaping, diving, rolling everywhere, blasting through jungle obsticales as if they weren't there. Odd was reminded of Lyoko, and his Kadic friends. They'd lost touch with each other a few years back. All Odd knew was like him, they were all serving in the UNSC.

When Odd reached the quarter mile mark, he slowed down, gun up and ready. His sensors were off the scale, useless in the ever-moving jungle.

Odd's armor was unique. There was only one, maybe two sets in the universe. It was a merge of Human and Covenant engineering.

It combined the best of two worlds. The smaller, lighter, energy effiecent full body Covenant Elite shields, with the stronger, more resilient, faster recharging capabilites of the MJOLNIR armor. It retained some of the Mjolnir's ability to augmentate the user's strength, and had a just thick enough crystalline layer to run a Class 3 AI. It also had the sophisticated lightbending equipment the Covenant used, morphed with the compact, non-heat-generating UNSC camoflauge technology. On the forearms ran UNSC re-engineered Jackal shields, larger than before, but slightly weaker. This suit even had the equipment to utilise a gravity unit as a jump pack. But that equipment was with the drop package, as when Odd was fully suited with it, it was much too bulky to fit in the HEV.

Traditionally, Spartans were trained to not rely on equipment, only themselves, but Odd needed that supply drop bad. Not only was his jump pack in it, the suit needed another powerplant to run the suit as well as the shielding, stealthing, and jump pack. It too was not fitted on Odd only because it was too bulky to fit in the HEV. Without the larger powerplant add-on, he wouldn't be able to utilise the armor's stealthing capabilities, which was absolutely necessary to infiltrate the Insurrectionist base.

Odd slowly crept through the jungle, making less sound than a panther on the hunt. Odd could see the pod, which had blasted its own little clearing in the jungle. Odd quickly conducted a perimeter search, then gathered up all his supplies. It took him a little longer to salvage the transponder beacon, and arrange the HEV pod to make it look like it was a failed landing. He took one of his mirco charges, mainly used to blow locks, set it for proximity, and stuck it near the reserve tanks in the HEV. The microcharge would ignite the thruster fuel inside, and destroy the HEV, leaving little for the rebels to examine, while not compromising his cover with added suspicion a full on high explosive trap would've brought.

Odd was sprinting flat out now, running away from the LZ as fast as possible. There was a designated fallback point, where he could hide and plan his next move. The two duffel bags that carried the supplies hampered his movement, but not enough to slow him down completely. Odd took care not to damage any of the gear inside, as it was all vital to his mission. There was even a camoflauged hide in there, which also doubled as a primative Faraday's cage.

His suit bleeped once, the TTMU signalling that Odd was closing in on the fallback point. Cliffs rose up imposingly ahead. According to the NAV point, the fallback point was halfway up the cliff. Odd paused. He accessed the video logs of the stealth drones that had mapped the place fallback point. Watching carefully, Odd realized that there was a natural cave chimney that ran from the base of the cliff up into a larger cave halfway up the cliffs. It took Odd awhile, but Odd finally found it. The mouth of the cave chimney was flush against the cliff, covered with large sections of vine. Odd climbed in, carefully repositioning the vines to cover the entrance.

Odd easily climbed up, and into the larger cave. It was about 3 meters by 2 1/2 meters by 3 meters, plenty large enough for him to stand up in and set up his hide with room to spare. Odd quickly set to work, knowing that the hide would be his best bet to avoid detection by any kind of sensors.

* * *

Ulrich saw flashes of color, which eventually resolved into images. He saw a trio of Marines creep up, and fire on the rebels. He caught another flash. More marines were coming, reinforcing the UNSC forces. Another flash, a Marine waving his hand forward, yelling for an air strike. Another flash. A quadruplet of Hornets zoomed above, loosing off several missiles and minigun fire. Two of them landed, and deployed more Marines to the fight. Yet another flash. A shock of bright pink hair, a bolt of recognition. _Aelita..._

A dull ringing started to sound in his ears, blitzed occasionally by the sound of explosions. Ulrich felt all the feeling in his body returning, the numbness disappating. Ulrich blinked twice, clearing his vision. He tried to rise, but someone pushed him back down again.

"Hey trooper, take it easy. You should be dead right now, or in extreme shock. So lie back down. The Medevac is on its way." The pink haired medic said. She turned her head over to the other medic "Where's those bloodpacks? This guy's lost a lot of blood. We need to stabilize him NOW."

"Yes Ma'am."

"And get that statis anti-gravity rig. This guy seriously needs it."

Ulrich tried to speak. Tried to tell her who he was. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Diziness suddenly washed over him, and the blackness set in again once more.

* * *

Theo yanked the controls up, desparately trying to re-fire the engines. His copilot was yelling into the COM, but Theo had instinctively blocked him out. All he could hear was the pulse of his heartbeat, thumping in his chest.

The flight computers kicked back up, and reported failures in the upper sensor electonics packages.

_Come on, Come on, _Theo begged the craft to refire.

The altimeter started flashing red, and sounded out warning tones.

The engine cycle completed.

A dull hum thrummed throughout the craft, and the the craft stopped to a stand-still.

There wasn't time to stop for a sigh of relief, however. Theo pushed the craft to full speed, initiating dives, rolls, and climbs to evade the fire.

Two of the Dreadnaughts peeled off the group, and pursued Theo. Their plasma reactors could power the monstrosity up to speeds of 70 mph on off-road terrain. These two were doing 98 on the paved road.

They fired their smaller secondary weapons, trying to hit the elusive Hornet. Theo jinked left, then right, evading the shots. A smattering MG fire punched holes into the fuselage of the craft. There was a sudden power drop in the Hornet. The Hornet's damage control systems kicked in, filling the holes in with foam to prevent fuel leaks.

Theo's copilot called out the damage report. "_That hit our power lines. We're running at 60 percent maximum"_

Theo shook his head, and clicked the COM on.

_"HQ, this is Theta-One. Things are getting way too hot down here. Where the hell is our back up?"_

_"Theta-One, keep on it. We are not leaving anyone behind. Sparrowhawks are on your vector. Expect them any moment now."_

The COMlink picked up a new signal.

_"Sparrowhawk Omega Squadron ready to kick ass! Let's kill these bastards. Omega-4, Omega-5, get with the Hornet. Omega-2 Omega-3, let's smoke these son of a bitches."_

_"Yeee haw!"_

Two Sparrowhawks rolled in behind the Dreadnaughts tailing Theo. The tanks swiveled their plasma turrets, and fire cohesive beams of plasma.

The first Sparrowhawk dropped lower, and charged up it's mounted non-linear rifle (Better known as the SPARTAN laser. To keep with realistic purposes, please assume that the mounted non-linear rifle is larger, more powerful, and takes longer to charge than the infantry SPARTAN laser). The second Sparrowhawk looped up, barely dodging the deathly plasma. A blackened line etched into the wing of the Sparrowhawk from the intense heat.

_"Missiles are hot. Get 'em."_

A pair of missiles launched out from under the wings of each Sparrowhawk.

Anti-Armor Anvil IV missiles streaked out toward the Dreadnaughts. Their railguns spun, and fired and nailed half of the incoming missiles. The remaining two arced in, and detonated on the latter Dreadnaught.

The plates on the Dreadnaught were punctured, and the missiles managed to blow off the couplings that were holding the treads in that section in place. All that happened to the the mighty Dreadnaught was it was slightly slowed down.

The leading Sparrowhawk discharged a bolt of energy from the Spartan Laser at the Dreadnaught. It slashed across the metal hull of the Dreadnaught. There was a reflective energy-dispersing layer on the Dreadnaught, but it did little in the ways of deflecting the lethal direct-energy beam. The laser slagged the thick titanium panels, and burned through some of the Dreadnaught's secondary electronics packages.

The following Sparrowhawk hammered at the Dreadnaught with a quartet of 25mm autoguns. The depleted uranium(U-238) slugs punched more holes into the still molten hole the first Sparrowhawk had made.

The Dreadnaught rumbled on, seemingly unhurt by the Sparrowhawks.

_"Jesus, what does it take to kill one of these things?"_

_"I'm hit! Main power grid is gone wack!"_

_"Omega-2, head back to base. Break off your attacks. Omega-3, escort him back. Omega Wing, report!"_

_"Not good sir. I'm fine, but those MG rounds punctured Omega-5's port-side fuel tanks, and his long-range COMlink. I don't know how long the sealant foam's gonna hold, but it won't be long."_

_"Break off your attacks. We can't afford to lose any birds. I'll hold them off until the _Thunder's Fury _can move in and orbitally strike these tanks."_

_"Good luck, sir. Omega Wing out."_

_"HQ, this is Sparrowhawk Omega-1. Requesting pinpoint orbital fire. Authorization code HIROSHIMA52-34."_

_"Negative, Omega-1. You're on your own. Rebels are using mass-accerator cannons to prevent us from moving into position."_

_"Dammit. Alright. Omega-1 out."_

Theo prayed the best to the pilot, before pulling his craft higher, abandoning the fight. There was still more soldiers to save.


	3. Chapter 3

In this chapter there is an excerpt from the novel, HALO:Ghosts of Onyx, by Eric Nylund. Please note that it IS NOT my work.

Note: I just realized in my bits about Fleetmaster Var 'Volamee, I have been using Human names for the races. I will probably continue to do so, for the sake of convience. In a rewite, I will definitely amend this, to keep this work as true to the HALO universe as I can make it.

When I was writing this first piece, with Var, I was wondering what the rest of the crew was doing. I was thinking about cryo, but realized that in the HALO games nor the HALO novels mentions Covenant cryo. I remeber the HALO novel Contact Harvest may contain some information relating to this, but I can't remember off of the top of my head.

Lastly, I am finding it very... hard? to come up with Elite names. So if they are from the Halo novels, please tell me. I've been making them up, but when I read them, they strike to me as familiar, but I have not the time to go back and check up in the HALO novels.

When I first conceptualized this story, Halo 3 wasn't out yet, so that meant Sergent Johnson was still alive. He was supposed to play a pretty big part in this story, but now, he's been techinically dead for 25 years. Now I'm stuck.

* * *

[Shayuum-Elecifer System: High Orbit over Alphos]

The sleek, powerful destroyer slipped through the empty space.

Var stood at his dais, overseeing his bridge, an impassive look set upon his face. Vartuaee, his arrays officer reported back.

"This planet's seismic activity is incredibly stable. We aren't picking up any seismic activity, but groundbased sensors will need to be deployed to confirm. We're detecting large metal masses under the surface of this planet. Radiation levels are slightly higher than normal, but well within tolerable levels. The atmosphere is toxic in the majority of the planet, but there are some areas of extreme altitude where the air is barely within breatheable limits."

The description was familiar to Var. Var had participated in joint efforts with humans to decipher Forerunner technologies. He had left this coalition though, to an offering to command his own fleet. 20 years later, he could barely recall the details of the report. He accessed his own private database. In it was an amazing plethora of information, one that he had accumlated over his years of service across the stars.

He found the file. It was in human script, which was quickly re-translated by the communications software lexicon in his database.

* * *

MAY 6, 2491 (MILITARY CALANDAR)

FIELD REPORT

SUBJECT: SURVEY PLANET XF-063

REPORTING OFFICER: CAPTAIN D. F. LAMBERT /

UNSCMID:03981762

XF-063 is a rare jewel of a find. There is an oxygen-nitrogen-inert gas atmosphere of suitable pressure and a moderate weather cycle. There is a surprising abundance of indigenous flora and fauna, which upon cursory investigation poses no daner. In fact, edible species present. (See additional reports for details.) Transplant of Earth species possible.

Notable anomalies: No detectable tectonic activity, but there is still an unusually strong planetary magnetic field. Slightly higher than normal background radiation measured, but well within tolerable standards. Additional geological testing recommended. No terraforming effort required

Colonization recommended.

/END/

(A/N: please note that this "file" is an excerpt taken from the novel HALO:Ghosts of Onyx, by Eric Nylund. This excerpt IS NOT my work, it is Eric Nylund's.)

* * *

Var remembered now. This file was one of 9 files that entailed the human discovery of the Forerunner Shield World, known to the humans as Onyx.

But there was a crucial difference. While Onyx had been bursting with life, Alphos was completely barren, incapable of supporting life across the majority of the planet. Only the areas mentioned by his arrays officer contained life, but only in the form of micro-organisms. If this planet was indeed another of the Shield Worlds, there evidently some sort of massive catastrophe had occured. Var had not studied the biological forms of the Flood, but he speculated that the Flood had managed to intercept the Forerunners as they fled to their Shield Worlds, and ravaged the planet.

But the theory left a large gap. What of the Sentinals? Var had read the after-action reports from both the humans and the Elites, as well as from the now shattered Covenant, but from his understanding, the Sentinals had more than enough firepower to annihilate the Flood invasion. Could have the Flood invaded with a force so massive that even the power of the Sentinals could not smite them? Maybe when this business was finished, a thorough investigation could be completed.

"Vartuaee, scan for COM patterns matching the _Path of Light_."

"Yes Fleetmaster."

"When you are finished, start running rudimentary scans on the system's astroid belt. There have been numerous occasions on which Jackals have used inter-connected hollowed-out astroids to serve as habitats. If they are still here, I wouldn't be surprised to find their base of operations to be within this belt. Send out the probes to get a general layout of the field. Take cautions to keep them stealthy. At this moment, I am willing to sacrifice time for stealth."

"Understood, Fleetmaster."

_14 hours later_

Vartuaee gave his report.

"Rudimentary sweeps have been completed, covering the entire belt. We have found few anomalies in the gravitational orbits in the larger asteriods. All of them are caused by the gravitational pull of Alphos, it's moon, and this plantoid, designated SEB14. SEB14 is in the astroid belt, and is just large enough to fall outside of the classification of asteroids. A more detailed scan is recommended."

Var nodded, processing the information.

"Inomalee, open up the archive files on this systems. Upload the files pertaining to the Geological Survey teams."

His intel officer nodded, and set to work locating the files.

The data files appeared on Var's command dais a few moments later. Var examined them, noting that the survey was 17 years old. He recorded any anomalies the survey teams found. He paid special attention to the parts regarding the lone planet, and its moon. There was some sort of accident, and the entire groundbased survey operations was lost. The accident was attributed to an across-the-board life-support system failure, causing the deaths of both teams on the moon and the planet. Var had a creeping suspicion that there was more to this than what the file described. After the supposed accident, the Geological Survey unit left the system, leaving the bodies and equipment behind, fearing another failure. A return survey was placed on indefinite hold. Var couldn't find any mentions of anomalies in the astroid belt, leading him to draw the conclusion that if the Jackals had a base had a base in the belt, it wasn't there 17 years ago, or it had been, just carefully and cleverly concealed.

Var looked over the files once more, then archived them into his personal database.

"Retrieve all probes, and run triple checks to ensure we are completely locked down."

"Yes, Fleetmaster."

Var's crew quickly and effiecently followed his orders, taking the time to make sure the were carried out to the letter.

"Ship's stealth integrity has not been compromised."

Var nodded in acknowledgement. "What's the status of our weapons and Slipspace drive?"

Ontomalee, his engineerings officer, reported "Our Slipspace drives are holding power at 70 percent, and the reactor is on standby to jump-heat the Slipspace drives."

"The weapon systems have not yet been charged, but the plasma tanks and are heated and full." Arnumee, the weapon's control, said.

"Excellent. Move us above the stellar plane over the astroid fields. Actively scan for any COM signals, and continue documenting this star system."

* * *

[Omnicron System, Planet Belagest IV; UNSC-Insurrectionist Conflict]

The COM crackled in William's ear. He was strapped to a modified Hornet, piloted by an old schoolmate of his, Theo. (A/N: This is the sniper team Theo delivered in Chapter 1).

_"We believe that there is a field command somewhere nearby, or some sort of communications relay station. What we've learned so far from intercepted messages from the Innies, this station is one of the command points that hold the rebel lines together. Take this station out, and we may find the Innie resistance falling apart."_

_"Understood, HQ. Sniper Team Gamma out."_

William checked over his rifle. William had forgone the standard SRS99C-S2 AMB rifle, for the deadlier, more accurate .50 caliber antimaterial rifle. The .50 cal was fully functioning as was it's Oracle N-Variant Scope. He also carried with him a caseless silenced SMG (the one in HALO: ODST). His spotting partner packed a modified BR55. It shot the massive, 12.7mm X 99 Armor-Penetrating round(at single shots), as well as it's normal rounds. A simple upper reciever swap allowed this switch between calibers to happen. The 3x scope on the standard BR55 had been forsaken for a 5x zoom, with sensors to allow him fulfill his role as spotte. He carried a pistol with him as well(from HALO: ODST).

He looked over the battlefield. Buildings zoomed by, and here and there he caught flashes of the battle. This bloody street/urban combat field would be William's third mission in such a environment. His skills at stealth would be pushed to the limits. Despite the shortages UNSC was still suffering from, he and his spotting partner managed to obtain old SPI Mark II suits for their combat mission. Ghillie suits would simply not work in an city/urban situation.

The copilot's voice sounded out. _"Sniper team, prepare for landing!"_

William ran armor diagnostics. It was fully functioning, with enough fusion power for another 3 years of continuous operation.

_"Marines, we're coming in hot. We're gonna drop fast, and bug out."_

William voiced an affirmative. He checked over his harness, making sure it hadn't loosened anything it wasn't supposed to.

The Hornet suddenly cleared all the buildings into a vast park. AA fire streaked towards the craft, but Theo's deft piloting skills were more than up to the challenge. The Hornet danced by, and unleashed a firestorm of retalition, never stopping all the way. Theo ducked the craft around a building, and hovered eight feet above the ground.

_"Sniper team, Go go go!" _

William hit the release on the harness, landing on the ground in a crouch. The SPI armor immediately mimicked it's surroundings. Even so, William immidiately dove for cover, recalling the intense training he went through. His spotter, followed close behind. William checked to make sure his satchel filled with high explosives was still with him.

William's HUD came to life. It opened up a map, and marked an area near the city's main metropolitan commuting center. The map faded away, replaced by a single NAV point. It made sense. The transit center subway would allow for covert movement across the entire city, allowing the rebels the ability to rapidly redeploy and reinforce their troops.

The pair stuck to the shadows, moving carefully and quietly. The place was crawling with rebels, and on multiple occasions they had to stop completely for minutes at a time to let a fireteam go by. Even though they were in the lightbending SPI suits, William followed the mantra drilled into him from the first day of boot camp. Never pin your survival completely on your electronics.

They reached a crossroads. Rebels were on the road horizontal to them, one massive parade, marching to battle. Heavy MBT's rolled on by, followed by APC's and munitions trucks. Artillery guns pulled by Warthogs were also mixed in, with mid-class tanks bringing up the rear of the formation. Rebel footsoldiers were everywhere, all around the vehicles, some hefting mortars, and portable AA rocket pods. William estimated their numbers to be close to one thousand. William instinctively unclicked his safety, and loosened his combat knife harness.

William knew that the UNSC would never be able to fight them off. Before the Human-Covenant War, the rebels fought using guerilla tactics, lashing out with lethal precision. But, the UNSC never before dealt with an all out multi-system rebellion. The trio of star systems were in open revolt. UNSC forces on station had been quickly overrun, forced to flee. Even now a massive space battle was in progress over their heads, both sides attempting to gain total control of the systems. The UNSC were at a disadvantage, having fewer ships than the rebels. The rebels also had massive Super MAC gun platforms set up over the planets. Only a daring raid by the splinter fleet of two corvettes, and a frigate, were UNSC forces able to deploy on Belagest IV, saving several of the major UNSC strongpoints from being taken. Right now, the orbital forces clashed over Belagest IV, UNSC trying to protect it's ground forces, the Innsurectionists trying to destroy the UNSC ground presence.

Javier, his spotter, cursed under his breath. "Alpha Base won't be able to fight of this shitstorm. Will, we gotta do something."

"Negative. We can't afford to jepordize this mission. Alpha Base can hold them off long enough for us to hit the rebel HQ."

"Will, you know just as well as I that they won't stop, even if their leader is dead. They'll keep pushing."

William knew he was right. They had no choice. "Alright. Here's the plan. Run up that back alley parallel to them. When you reach the front, pop some smoke, and drop a frag. Set the frag with one of those remote fuses, and get up a building. Make sure you use the suppressor on your BR. We're aiming for mass chaos, not mass destruction. I'll plant some charges on the forward tanks, and those ammo trucks. At all costs, stay hidden. Don't make any sudden moves, and watch your back. Keep to solid colors to camoflauge better. Got it?"

"Yeah. We're going to kick up a real shitstorm here."

"Just do your job."

Javier sprinted down the back alley. William crept behind, making his way slowly up to the lead tank. He kept pace with it, and waited for his spotter to get in position. Javier's acknowledgement lights winked red, then yellow, then green. There muffled pop, followed by a hiss, which was punctuted by a loud blast. William heard the distinct cracks of a battle rifle, picking off the confused rebels. William sprinted out of cover, and dove underneath the first tank. He slapped a shaped charge disk onto the tank's vulnerable engine compartment. He crawled to the next tank, and placed another charge. He did this for the first 3 tanks. Javier started switching buildings, making it nearly impossible for the rebels to triangulate his location. They fired blindly, hoping for luck hits.

William rolled, and came up behind a footsoldier. He slashed the man's throat from behind and with one fluid motion, sheathed the knife, and dived out of sight. The men nearby saw the footsoldier fall, blood spurting out of the wound, and clustered around each other, leaving William's path clear. He had given Javier his grende bandolier, because it would take some time for William to attach enough charges to slow the convoy. He continued attaching the rest of the charges.

Will sent the fallback signal. Javier's fire immiedately halted, and Will could see on his tracker that Javier was headed for the fallback point.

William sprinted back as well. Javier was already waiting for him. The rebels already organized, fanning out to search for the culprits. Javier looked at Will.

"Do it already!"

William complied. He pressed the detonator, and watched as the convoy be engulfed in simultaneous explosions. William had concentrated on taking out the ammuntions trucks, knowing the munitions inside of them would multiply the blast. 7 charges, 7 fireballs. The two front MBT's looked intact, but they were definitely not moving anywhere soon. The side streets were too small to fit the rest of the convoy, leaving no choice but to get the MBT's repaired, or out of the way to get the convoy moving again. The munitions trucks blew, but the secondary explosions William had hoped for were weaker than he hoped for, most likely just a crate of grenades going off.

The APC that William had bombed had been destroyed, it's flaming wreck further obstructing the convey.

Javier nodded in approval. He gave William his bandolier back. 2 flashbangs, 1 smoke, and 3 frags were all that remained.

"We'll have to take one hell of a detour around these guys. They'll be searching for us within a one mile radius."

William activated the SATNAV, and mentally plotted a new route. It would take them a good hour to retrace back, and loop around.

* * *

A sudden jolt rocked Ulrich to consciousness. He blinked twice, clearing his vision. He tried to lift his arms, but found them strapped down, along with his legs. He could only lift his head. He looked around him. Ulrich noted that he was in a Pelican. He could see Aelita up near the far side of the bay, monitoring the medical equipment. Another soldier was in a harnessed into a seat on Ulrich's right side by his feet. The soldier's helmet was off, placed on the seat next where he sat. His head was bandaged, and arm in a sling. He saw Ulrich looking at him, and he nodded in acknowledgement. The unnamed soldier looked away, grimancing in pain, clutching his side.

Sound started returning to his ears. The thrum of the Pelican floated into his ears. There was another bang, and the craft started shaking, only to stop a few moments later.

The COMlink in Ulrich's helmet was still working. Aelita had left Ulrich's helmet because the helmet had a oxygen-concentrator filtration system, which she had turned all the way up. It was substituting for the oxygen tanks and masks she didn't have.

_"_Thunder's Fury, _come in. This is Bravo-1. We're on approach vector, and we've got bogies on our 6. I can't shake em."_

_"Roger that. Our Longsword crews are busy holding off rebel fighters, but we'll get some guys there."_

_"Affirmative. Bravo-1 out."_

Ulrich could feel the slight gravity flucations as the Pelican engaged in a series of evasive manuevers. His head was pounding intensely, sensitive to the constantly changing g forces.

Aelita leaned over his rig, checking his wounds. Ulrich's vision swam, and fell to blackness.

* * *

Theo blasted forward, jinking his craft left and right, hoping that it would stay in one piece for a few minutes longer.

The Hornet was in a sorry shape. The thing was barely flying, loaded down with its two pilots and another three ODST soldiers. The engine's roof panels were slagged, partially blocking the air vents, and pinching off the auxillary coolant pipes. The turbines were shot through with bullet holes, and were issuing a grating sound. Steering flaps had also been partially jammed, making for slow reaction from the craft, and limiting the full range of motion. The engine itself was hit, and was only producing 60 percent of it's power. Theo knew very well that if he eased down the throttle, he'd never get back up to the same level of speed. Theo was pretty sure they were leaking coolant and gas too.

Kleinsorge was dead too. Shot through by a .50 caliber sniper rifle. Theo held his emotions in check. There would be time later to mourn for his copilot. Now, all that mattered was reaching the UNSC lines.

His control panel was a mess. Virtually every single error light was on, telling him that the he should land NOW.

UNSC forward bases beckoned to him. Theo willed the craft to move faster, away from the pursing rebel forces. Warning tones issued from the dash.

A slew of chaingun rounds slashed into the portside of the Hornet. The Hornet spun out of control, leaving a trail of black, acrid smoke. Theo wrenched his yoke the other way, trying to compensate for the sputtering portside turbine.

_"HQ, come in! This is Hornet Theta-One! I'm hit! I can't hold her, we're going down!"_

Theo readjusted the power levels between the two turbines, trying to stabilize the craft as much as possible. The Hornet tumbled out of the air, accelerating faster and faster towards the ground. Theo released the cross-safties, and ejected the ODST troopers. He made one last adjustment, and bailed out himself.

The ejection rig emitted an anti-gravity field, catching him. Theo turned to see his faithful aircraft, carrying his dead comrade, to his funeral pyre. The craft smashed into the ground, fireballing as the remaining jet-grade fuel exploded. Below him, Theo spotted the black dots of the ODST soldiers rapidly switching the gravity fields on and off, allowing for a quick descent.

Theo followed suit. The rigs were in their first generation of use, and did not have the ability to control it's level of power output, hence the only way to drop quickly was switching the rig on and off. He fumbled with his flight harness, and pulled out his M9 service pistol. He racked the slide, and hoped he didn't have to use it. The ODST's had already touched down. Theo aimed his feet towards them, and decsended quickly.

The ODST hefting a Battle Rifle had already taken charge.

"The forward bases are that was. Lets get our asses moving, sir."

Theo was wondering why he was being addressed with the title of sir, but quickly realized, he was of the highest rank.

Theo nodded.

One of the ODST's leveled his AR. "Incoming!" He fired off a trio of bursts out of his MA5B. The other two ODSTs quickly took cover, returning fire. Theo felt completely out of his depth, but dove for cover. The leading ODST waved at Theo, shouting, "Go, head back! We'll hold them!"

Theo swallowed, counted a heartbeat, and dashed out. He held out his pistol arm, and fired wildly into the rebel footsoldiers. He rolled behind a Dumpster. He popped up, and fired a couple of shots, before crouching back down and reloading.

Moments later, the ODST who had raised the alarm, dove behind the dumpster with Theo. He glanced at Theo's pistol with a hint of disgust, before saying:

"Here, take this. It'll do you alot better than that peashooter." He handed Theo a M75 caseless submachine gun, and a belt of clips. Theo strapped on the belt without a word, reholstering his pistol. The SMG felt heavy in his hands.

The ODST tapped his shoulder. "Fallback now!"

Theo crouch-ran, looking for another suitable barrier. He vaulted over the street rubble, weaved past the burned wrecks of cars, and leapt behind a concrete divider. He turned, and came face to face with a leering skull. Theo swore in suprise, but examined the skeleton closer. It wore the tattered remains of a UNSC uniform, with hands clasped over it's chest, covering a monstrous hole in his ribcage. Theo winced. He patted down the corpse, and was rewarded with a single frag grenade.

"Let's move!"

The machine gun-toting ODST ran past him, shouting at Theo.

"Snipers are pinning the other two down! Come on, we gotta get 'em out!"

The heavyset ODST ran into a back alley. Theo quickly followed. There was a back door, which the ODST promptly kicked down.

"Be careful. Stay behind me, and watch our backs. There's bound to be some creepers in here."

Theo nodded.

"Here, take these."

The ODST handed Theo a silencer and several clips of ammunition, pausing briefly to show Theo how to thread the silencer onto the barrel.

They slowly proceeded through the building. So far, empty.

_"Hurry up! Those snipers have our asses pinned! Come on, get going!"_

"Roger that, Red-One. We're getting closer."

_"So's my next birthday! Get moving!"_

They hustled up a set of stairs. They slowly crept down the hall, finding few rebel soldiers, who were killed quickly and silently. The pair made their way further down, pausing at the top of a second stairwell.

There was a harsh splintering sounds, followed by a grating voice yelling out commands.

"Dam it. They're breaking through that door down there! I'll hold them off here. You'll have to take those snipers out yourself. Use your iron sights, they'll help you aim better. Last I saw, those snipers were in the top floor of the brick office building, 1st and 3rd windows. Go!"

The ODST primed a grenade, and tossed down the stairs. The grenade detonated, blowing the door outwards, killing several rebel soldiers. He sprayed the area down with his machine gun.

He turned back to Theo. "What are you doing? Get going!"

Theo turned and continued down the hallway. He carefully cleared each room, his silenced M75 coughing out quiet death.

He entered the last room. The occupant spun around, too late. Theo fired.

He stepped over the soldier, and to the window. Next to it there was a .50 caliber sniper rifle, which the rebel soldier had just finished setting up when Theo arrived.

It was bolted down into the window frame on a bipod mount. Theo slung the M75, and grasped the sniper rifle.

Theo scanned the buildings. There. A red bricked building. He peered through the scope, digital readouts feeding him distance and wind direction.

One of the snipers popped up, in the first window, like the ODST had said. He took a shot, and ducked down again. Theo didn't really care. He was using a .50 caliber. He approximated where the sniper would be, and shot straight through the wall. He pumped in a second round just in case.

He did the same for the second sniper, who he found now on the rooftop, firing from the fire escape in a prone position.

Theo got him on the first shot.

He got up, and took apart the rifle, and pocketed the slide, preventing further rebel use.

A rip of machinegun fire reminded him to return to the ODST.

He hurried down the hall. The ODST was crouched at the top of the stairwell, eyes trained on the door at the bottom of the stairs, and the doors leading back down towards the exit. He saw Theo approaching.

"You got em?"

"Yeah. There was a guy back there setting up a .50 cal. He just finished when I got him."

"Good. Lets rendevous back with the others."

He threw a smoke grenade down the stairwell, then planted a claymore at the crux of the stairs.

"Come on, let's go."

The ODST turned and went back the way they came. Theo followed closely.

They found the other two ODST's waiting for them in the back alley.

"What took you guys so long? I was about to unpack my lunch" the lead ODST joked.

"Hey, we got them, didn't we?"

The second ODST spoke up

"Lets just get our asses moving. These rebel sons of bitches don't mess around. My COMlink picked up some chatter. They're mobilizing sime kind of aerial strike. Grid 15 by 4, something like that."

"We got to get that intel back to base. Some serious shit might be going down."

"Right." came the unison reply.

Theo spoke up.

"We should go east of here. Aerial intel photos I saw showed that area to be no man's land. We should be able to sneak our way back to UNSC lines. Plus, last I heard, UNSC HQ was sending in patrol teams. With any luck, we'll meet up with a patrol team. That area might even be under UNSC control again."

"Good. We have a plan. Let's go."

* * *

When I was writing the section on Theo's crash, I thought that it would be pretty nice if I, or someone else, could turn this into a game. With that in mind, I started altering my writing style, and made some adjustments to the plotline. THe major events are still the same, but some of the tiny events have been replaced, removed, or rewritten.


	4. Chapter 4

[Shayuum-Elecifer System: High above Galatical Plane, en route to Alphos]

The _Silent Justice _glided through the eternal night of space. Var had barely moved for the last 30 cycles. He stood at his command dais, in eternal vigil over his faithful crew.

"Arnumee, upload the Human's plasma weapon firmware. You will find the firmware within my private database. Your console has been given temperary access."

The software was orginally developed by Human AI on a captured Elite Flagship, then refined by ONI scientists. It was a closely guarded secret, one that few even knew that existed. Var had access to these only through the Arbiter himself. Var had sacrificed much to obtain the software, but it was well worth it.

The plasma cannons silently rebooted, and ran the new software. It was required that Var only "use the firmware when appropriate" ,"minimize usage of the firmware", and delete it after everytime he used it.

The UNSC was concerned that if the software was somehow leaked to the rebels, they could build a starship-grade plasma cannon capable of annihilating entire fleets. The rebels had already attempted to build an ground-based anti-starship plasma cannon of massive proportions on Corasis, but ONI-ODST joint operations had put a stop to it.

The _Silent Justice _locked in orbit over Alphos's moon. Var wanted to investigate the so-called accident that happened to the Geological Survey teams.

* * *

_Several Cycles later..._

Var strapped himself in a Phantom. He was leading an expedition force to investigate the accident. He had downloaded the coordinates of the landing site from the Geological Survey report.

He was taking no chances. He ordered 3 phantoms to be readied up, along with 2 overwatch Banshees. The _Silent Justice_'s only 4 Seraph fighters were on standby, ready to provide heavy support at moments notice.

His Phantom had 10 Spec Ops Elites, all of which whom he knew personally. Each had a two Jackal retainers, armed usually with shields or special equipment to better aid their Spec Op Elites.

Also in Var's Phantom were two a bonded pair of Hunters, ready to serve.

The other Phantom carried two platoons of Elite/Jackal/Grunts, an Elite strike team, and a Grunt Mortar unit.

The third backup Phantom had the Wraith, and the two Ghosts.

The crew completed the preparation cycles. Within moments, the operation was underway.

The craft fell into formation upon exiting the ship's hangar. Var instructed for all the vehicles to be in constant COMlink and radar connection within each other. The Banshees had extra broadband transmitters fitted to their vehicles, to account for the craft's smaller size.

Var's earlier encounters with his unknown enemy had taught him to expect the unexpected from this his opponent.

* * *

[Kyyan System: Exalted Path; somewhere in the northern hemisphere: 4 monthes ago]

Var swept his gaze across the barren landscape. Nothing to be seen but dirt in all directions. To the south, towered massive volcanic mountains, spewing out great gouts of smoke.

The team had just finished up with there investigation. No information had been yielded. The work crew began disassembling their gear, packing up sensory equipment, loading them up into the lone Phantom. A lone Banshee sat next to the Phantom, it's pilot leaning against the craft's hull.

There was a sickening squelch, followed by a gurgle. Var whipped around, and saw the pilot dead on the ground, decapitated. The ground started shaking. Drones popped out of the ground, spraying down the expedition teams with plasma fire. The drones were of Covenant make.

Var roared in fury, retailating with accurate pinpoint shots with his plasma rifle. The plasma splashed over the drones' shields.

The expedition team was cut in half by the time the team reorganized themselves. The drones zoomed over head, gunning down those in the open. Var continued firing from the recessed alcove of the Phantom.

The carbine cycled round after round, then jammed. Var threw down the weapon in disgust, drawing a plasma pistol and his energy sword. He bared his teeth and roared another challenge. The drones honed in on him, strafing the area with plasma fire. Var lithely dodged the fire, and sprang into the air.

He landed perfectly on a drone, and leapted onto another one, a graceful flick of the sword destroying the first drone. Var leapt from on drone to another, hitting them with lethal shots of plasma, or slashing through them with a flick of his wrist.

More drones popped out of the loose dirt. They fired, bolts of plasma sizzling on Var's shield. The shield failed,, and Var felt the flash of pain as the bolts smote his shoulder in a blast of intense heat. Var ordered the retreat. More and more drones popped out of the sand. Var hobbled over to the Banshee, firing over his shoulder. He heaved himself up into the cockpit of the aerial craft, and throttled it up.

The remaining expedition crew had gotten themselves into the Phantom, which was now hovering overhead providing suppressive fire for Var. The Banshee glided away, pursued by the drones. However, the Banshee was able to quickly ascend above the range of the drones, leaving them far behind.

They had lost that battle, but Var returned in strength, and annihlated the drones. He had work crews gather the remains of the drones, thoroughly examine them, then incinerated them.

* * *

The formation desended through the atmosphere. Var was in the cockpit, overseeing the operation.

"The site is here," Var said, pointing to a plateau. It was about 3 miles square.

"Don't make a landing run yet. We will start a sweep from this quadrant, and make our way down to this quadrant." Var said, indicating the northwest corner of the map and the southeast corners respectively.

The pilot nodded, and made his course adjustments. His flight plans were automatically transmitted to the other units. They swooped to match Var's Phantom's flight course. The sweep revealed nothing out of the ordinary, and pinpointed the exact location of the site.

Var opened the COMlink channels. "Banshee Units, establish covering pattern above LZ. Phantom-2, fall in landing formation with us. Phantom-3, standby."

The Banshees swooped, manuevered, then established themselves into a circling flight path above the pre-determined LZ.

Var's Phantom slowly edged to the ground, and activated it's gravity lift. Spec Ops troops touched down immidiately, followed by their retainers. Var followed closely behind, flanked by his bonded pair Hunter bodyguards. The rest of the troops spilled out, fanning out to establish a 360 ring of protection.

The second Phantom fell in line, and deposited it's troops. Squads of Grunts fell into formation, marshalled by their Elite Majors. A support team of Jackals waited aboard the Phantom, hefting energy carbines, plasma turrets, and a fixed fuel rod cannon turret for heavy support.

The site of the accident was up ahead, in a crater. The taskforce approached the site slowly, on guard for anything. The crater loomed overhead.

"Phantom-2, reposition to cover the crater. Upload aereal feed to my headset."

"Yessir."

The Phantom carrying the sniper team glided above. It repositioned itself diagonally above the crater. Video feed started streaming into Var's HUD.

Var could see the tuning-fork shapes shapes of 2 Covenant Spirit dropships. The image was fuzzy, and blurry.

"Sorry sir, we can't focus the image. We're getting some sort of interference. We're trying to pinpoint the soure. It's probably nothing. Maybe some leaking radiation from the Spirits."

Var grunted. The COM cracked to life again.

"Sir, our snipers are picking up some sort of anomaly on their scopes. Apparently some of the range finders are reporting infinite range."

Suspicion started creeping into Var's mind. His body started tensing up.

"All units, stay alert. I suspect there may be something foul at play here."

The assembled forces climbed up the crater lip. They crested the ridge. A scene of carnage greeted them.

* * *

Theo was tired.

He was a Navy Pilot, damnit, not a footpounder.

The group had been walking for almost an hour, keepin to the shadows, avoiding rebel contact the best they could. They had picked up some rebel chatter. They were organizing search parties to go after the downed Hornet. They'd encountered one such party, and had barely gotten away with their lives. The search parties were packing heavy caliber weapons, and with vehicular support.

They were proceding down a back alley, constantly on the lookout for rebel soldiers.

The lead ODST murmered into his COM.

"Up ahead. There's Warthog parked in the gas station. Two Innies gassing it up. They probably were with a search party, and lagged behind to refuel. We need to take the 'Hog. If we go on foot, we'll run out of ammo soon."

"You two, stay back here and guard the back way," he said, motioning to the big ODST and Theo "Us two are gonna circle around back, and take them out."

The big ODST simply nodded his head, and hunkered down, covering the alleyway.

Theo went prone, watching the pair of ODSTs snaking their way over the shadowy ground. The leading ODST paused behind a Dumpster, and peeked around the corner. The two rebel soldiers were now bent of the hood of the 'Hog, pouring over a map.

The two ODSTs rolled, and dived behind a road lane median.

They crept up behind the Warthog. They together in synchronization leapt forward and tackled each soldier, slitting their throats on the way down.

A rebel soldier came out of the gas station fastening his belt. He looked up in shock and saw the ODSTs. The rebel soldier turned tail, to run back in. The second ODST threw his combat knife, burrowing it into the man's back.

The lead ODST stood up, and stalked over to the dead soldier. A COM unit rolled out of his hand. A red light was flashing.

"Shit! He triggered the alarm. Let's get the hell out of here!"

The ODST waved towards Theo.

"Comon, lets get our asses into the 'Hog."

The big ODST pulled Theo to his feet.

They sprinted, and joined the other ODSTs. Harsh yells filled the air. The guttural roar of engines came closer.

"Here! You drive!"

Bullets started flying.

Theo threw himself into drivers seat, fumbling for the keys.

He found them still in the ignition, and quickly fired up the Warthog.

One of the ODST's head blew open.

"Sniper! Get going!"

The other ODST's piled into the car, the leader stopping briefly to yank the fallen ODST's dog tags.

Theo threw the 'Hog into reverse, and slammed the accelerator. The fat treads spun, caught grip, and shot the vehicle backwards. Theo spun the wheel, throwing the car into a J- turn. He shifted into first gear and gunned the engine.

The big ODST leaned out out over the side and layed down suppressive fire. The second ODST was up on the turret, blasting away at rebels in cover with the 14.1 mm chain gun mounted on the Hog. The lead ODST was sitting in the Passenger seat, trying to get a COM fix.

Theo swerved over the road, avoiding piles of rubble. He hit the brakes hard, and slid fast, coming to a stop. A fallen apartment building blocked their path.

"Should we go on foot?" asked Theo.

"No, that building might collapse on us the second we set foot in there. We'll have to push our way through the rebels. Hopefully they won't have brought anything heavier than a HMG."

"Bull-shit" muttered an ODST, drawing out the syllables.

Theo executed another J-turn, and head back the way they came. Enemy soldiers fired at the LRV. Theo did his best to make the 'Hog a hard target to hit, while the other ODST's shot away at the rebels. Theo gunned the engine, and swerved into a hard right at a 4-way intersection. He headed over the overpass, and slammed hard left onto a northbound highway.

Abandoned cars littered the highway, trying to block the Warthog's path. Theo skillfully navigated past the obstacles.

"We got tanks!" called out an ODST.

Theo sat up straighter, peering ahead. Tanks were coming down a northbound merger entrance a while off. Rebel construction crews were moving the cars out of the way for the tanks to get through, and laying down insta-crete where the tank's weight had cracked the asphalt pavement.

Theo hunched over the steering wheel, and prayed to whatever deities out there.


End file.
